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D-Wave 2000Q system to be installed at Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab run by Google, NASA, and Universities Space Research Association

13 Mar 2017 Palo Alto - Google, NASA, and Universities Space Research Association (USRA) have elected to upgrade their D-Wave 2X quantum computer to the new D-Wave 2000Q system, under the terms of their multi-year agreement, to support QuAIL's pioneering research on how quantum computing can be applied to artificial intelligence, machine learning, and difficult optimization problems.

"The new system will be the third generation of D-Wave technology installed at Ames", stated D-Wave CEO Vern Brownell. "We are pleased that Google, NASA, and USRA value the increased performance embodied in our latest generation of technology, the D-Wave 2000Q system, for their critical applications."

Since 2013, when the first D-Wave system was installed at Ames, scientists at Google, NASA, and USRA have been using it for a broad range of complex problems such as web search, speech recognition, planning and scheduling, air-traffic management, robotic missions to other planets, and support operations in mission control centres.

"We appreciate that the new processor offers more controls for each qubit, which enables us to experiment with new quantum-enhanced optimization and sampling algorithms", stated Hartmut Neven, Director of Engineering for Google and Head of the Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab.

"Scientists at NASA Ames continue to explore the potential of quantum computing - and quantum annealing algorithms in particular - to aid in the many challenging computational problems involved in NASA missions", stated Eugene Tu, Center Director at NASA's Ames Research Center. "NASA looks forward to advancements in this technology to achieve these goals."

"Through USRA, the broader research community can get access to D-Wave's state-of-the-art quantum computer, and collaborate with scientists at NASA, Google, and other universities", stated David Bell, Director, USRA's Research Institute for Advanced Computer Science. "Since the installation of the first D-Wave system in 2013, researchers from around the world have been able to conduct cutting-edge research using technology unavailable elsewhere."